KFC announce that they might be about to bring out a "hot cross bun burger"

April 25th 2019

Feature by Thomas Lethbridge

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If there’s one thing more integral to proper Easter than chocolate and giant rabbits, it’s tucking into sticky sweet hot cross buns. At no other time of year are sweet toothed snackers given the go ahead to indulge in something so delicious, dense and indulgent at basically every hour of the day. Whack a bun in the toaster, cover it in butter or clotted cream and you’ve basically prescribed yourself the ultimate festive antidepressant. The only mystery is why they’re only allowed for a few months in Spring.

Despite their iconic status among both the British and baking enthusiasts, the potential of the classic hot cross bun has been pretty well ignored by the food industry at large. Unlike other edible holiday traditions, there are hardly any businesses that have tried to take the food’s famous flavours and do something different. It’s basically been traditional buns or nothing at all. This, however, could be about to change.

Last week, fast food giants KFC revealed that their team of chicken innovators have been dedicating increasing amounts of time to coming up with new Easter-y ideas for 2020. Their solution is simple - launching a brand new hot cross bun fried chicken burger in UK stores starting next year.

According to a carefully worded KFC press release, “The Classic Fillet Burger bun has been replaced with a traditional Hot Cross Bun, then stuffed with a succulent Original Recipe chicken breast fillet and served with fresh lettuce and mayo.” If the new announcement is to be believed, it means that the colonel could be in the company of raisins and cinnamon in the very near future.

However, despite all the excitement, there is a quite serious caveat to the new menu option. KFC also revealed that they would only go ahead with the proposal if they received “egg-cellent” feedback about the idea - putting the emphasis on the public to let the powers that be know that they’re keen to see to bun/chicken combo hit menus as soon as possible. One can only assume that if the announcement fails to make the splash that’s expected, the plan may end up on the back burner.

In the meantime, KFC decided to include rather sardonic instructions to allow customers to construct their own versions of the as yet unreleased sandwich at home. The recipe states that customers should “1. Simply cut the Hot Cross Bun in half and toast it; 2. Add a layer of mayo to the bottom bun, followed by a layer of lettuce; 3. Place your Original Recipe chicken fillet on top; 4. Add your top bun and nibble away!” Obviously, the feeling was that we were incapable of cracking this formula by ourselves.

If all goes according to plan, the bun burgers could be hitting restaurants in time for Easter 2020, with the expectation of a nationwide release across the UK. Whether or not it works remains to be seen. But it seems a shame not to at least have a go at something that, on paper at least, sounds this amazing.